Starting the Day

                                                                                                    

I make the bed.

I climb the stairs to the garret and look out the window on the landing. 

I wrap myself in a shawl, and light a candle.

               We light a light in the name of God who creates life,
               in the name of the Savior who loves life,
               in the name of the Spirit who is the fire of life.
                                                    Philip Newell

I settle into my Girlfriend Chair and listen to the quiet. The only sound is the gentle tick-tock of the clock. A steady and reassuring tick, tock. Not tick, tick and maybe a tock. But again and again and again, tick, tock, tick, tock.

I read the day's devotion in Healing After Loss by Martha Whitmore and am surprised at how often it is just what I need to read. 

                In the turning of the seasons, I find promise and hope.

I read a chapter or perhaps two in my current study books: A New Kind of Christianity, Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith by Brian D. McLaren and Active Hope, How to Face the Mess We're in Without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. 

                ...focus on finding and playing your part, offering
                your gift of Active Hope, your best contribution to
                the healing of our world.  

I take a deep breath and return to listening to the tick tock of the clock, tuning my heart to the quiet. 

I may write in my journal. How can I contribute to the healing of our world? What are the worries I bring into this day? Who needs my prayers? What are the possibilities for this day?

               Receive the day.

I close the journal and once more return to the quiet. I pray--sometimes in actual words and sometimes by letting the words go, easing across my tight forehead and lightening the heaviness. 

I linger, grateful I can do just that. 

I linger until I hear a bell inside my head--not an alarm, but a sweet, twinkly bell, like the chimes that hang outside in the garden. Now, Nancy, you have greeted the day and the day has greeted you. Move into your day.

                There is only one thing
                and that is God. 

An Invitation

How do you start your day? I would love to know. 

Some Recommendations from the Past Week

1.    I finished reading My Grandmother's Hands, Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies by Resma Menakem. Perhaps I should instead say I finished reading this book for the first time, but I don't think it is a book you can really finish, for the book is really a kind of spiritual practice. I will keep this book in my pile by my Girlfriend Chair, instead of shelving it.

From chapter 21, "Whiteness Without Supremacy"

         Are you treating all human beings with genuine regard?

         Are you calling out evil and immorality when you 

         encounter it? Are you serving your fellow human beings?

         Are you acting out of the best parts of yourself? Are you

         you working with other white people to develop culture 

         and dismantle all forms of white-body supremacy? 268

2.     I revisited Writing as a Path to Awakening, A Year to Becoming An Excellent Writer and Living an Awakened Life by Albert Flynn DeSilver. One of the women in my writing group reminded me about this book. I intended to read the October chapter, and I will, but instead drifted back to August, "Devotion, Permission to Flow." 

        September has been a challenging writing month for me, after a summer of being productive. This chapter helped, and my current chapter has begun to flow again.